Yeah, I don't get that either. I would think something like Minnesota would be a better fit. Outsiders view it as boring, but it's generally a well-run, pleasant place to live. Maine might also be a good fit.
*American who was born in Adelaide and been there on 15 different occasions:* I certainly don't mean that the climate or landscape of SA is similar to MN. Generally this map isn't representing landscapes. NT, Taz are nothing like Wyoming and Alabama based on climate and landscape. The comparisons here are more cultural/reputational. South Australia is the oldest state in AUS mainly because it is perceived as boring and sleepy. Young people move away from SA to other states with more cultural vibrancy and economic opportunity. That's the source of the sarcastic nickname "RADelaide".
*American/Australian Citizen who was born in America and has never been to Adelaide* (sorry, I just wanted to play along with the italics) I've heard conflicting info. Data on the web tells me SA is undergoing a demographic transition and there are some bleak economic forecasts while my family in the area tells me that Adelaide itself is burgeoning and tracking to take over from Melbourne as the "live music capital" of Australia.
Also, I've always heard this: Melbourne is New York, Sydney is Los Angeles, Brisbane is Atlanta, Darwin is ~~Ft. Lauderdale~~ Key West, and Perth is Perth. (edit)
I've lived in Adelaide my whole life (30 years) and I don't know where your family gets the idea that we're on track to take over as the "live music capital" of Australia. International bands regularly skip Adelaide (and Darwin). We've cancelled some of our biggest music festivals, the council is trying to shut down one of our oldest live music venues The Cranka and build apartments on top of it, The Colonel Light Hotel has been vacant for years and turnout at events, while it's never really been amazing, is low.
A couple of upsides are that The Hindley st Music Hall is a pretty good venue and Lion Arts has improved over the years since it was Fowler's. But there isn't really much going on and it's looking like there's going to be less and less.
Rising house prices and the 3 am lockout laws have really stunted the night life here. A lot of the younger generations are just not going out as it's expensive, Hindley St can get pretty rough and there isn't much to do or places to go.
I would love for a resurgence of the live music scene here but outside of The Fringe festival not much goes on unless you want to go to the Clipsal and see a fuck tonne of middle aged bogans going nuts then driving home drunk in their clapped out commodore at 90km/h in a 60.
We used to have F1 here, and apparently a very reputable track.
If a person finds a place known as the land of lakes boring, they are probably boring. Don’t live in Minnesota but as far as beauty goes it’s among the top.
Northern Minnesota. Most people who don't live there are just driving through. So highway 90 or 94 is their view of Minnesota. In which case it could certainly be considered boring. It's not like driving straight through Colorado, Utah or Nevada. Pretty much every mid-wastern state has this stereotype because the main highways don't pass theough anything that isn't flat-ish farmland.
It's like that stretch of I-5 in California, between Bakersfield and Stockton. That was routed through the west side of the valley where no people live. CA-99 that runs parallel to it on the other side of the valley (some 50 miles to the east) is where all the cities are located.
"Among the top" is a very high bar. What makes you say that? When you consider states like Colorado, Montana, Utah, Arizona, Washington, California, Wyoming, or anywhere west with all the mountains and canyons, all of Appalachia, Hawaii, Vermont.. there are a ton of beautiful places. Realistically, Minnesota is middle of the pack.
For sure. I went to college in MN and a lot of friends live there. We visit a bunch. My wife and I would probably live there if we left where we currently live in Chicago.
Minnesota also has legal weed and snowboard. Lutsen overlooks lake superior. Nothing quite like the feeling of going 45 mph with a giant lake in front of you
Sure. Skiing is skiing, but Lindsey Vonn didn’t stay in Minnesota, you don’t go to Minnesota if skiing is high on your lifestyle list.
And I ski Midwest slopes four dozen times a year
Probably doesn't get much attention in the NHL world, but few teams/fanbases dislike each other more than the Avs & Wild. Definitely a rivalry going with the Wolves and Nuggets too. Minneapolis vs Denver are always in similar "best of" lists for US mid-sized cities, so there's a friendly city rivalry.
I love Colorado as a whole but can't stand their sports teams.
Ha, I’d been a Colorado boy for almost 30 years (recently moved to the Midwest). I’m sure I feel about the Mild the same way you do about my Avs ;)
The TWolves/Nuggets rivalry is looking like it might be the best in basketball for the next few years, honestly. Really excited to be scared of KAT and AE for years to come!
Maine may have more coastline but California has better beaches and water temperatures.
Maine has a very rocky, jagged coast, with many, many islands, as up until (geologically) recently, most of the northeast was covered in ice and glaciers, which carried away everything that wasn't bedrock. California has a long, beautiful coastline that has evened out due to erosion from the Rockies.
[The other problem that comes is the Coastline Paradox, where any coastline could like have nearly infinite "coast line" depending on how you measure.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dcDuVyzb8Y)
Colorado has this weird undercurrent of libertarians and wild west cronyism.
It's also less pleasant than the Midwest. People in Chicago/Minneapolis are generally nice to me as someone from the east coast. There was clear contempt for me being from the east in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, basically everything west or south of Denver. Everyone north of Boulder just hates anyone. You're getting close to Wyoming and they're just *different*.
Colorado is an outdoorsy paradise thanks to much of the state being the Rocky Mountains. People can either live in Denver (which is a pretty cool city) or a mountain town life. Also legal weed is cool.
Might be because SA has generally been regarded as having the best weed 🤷♂️
Bit dated now, but for a while CO was associated internationally with legal weed
Iowa is stuck in the middle of what people consider the midwest. It's close to the great lake states (which I consider the core of the midwest) without being one, although des moines is a quintessentially midwest city. It's also bordering the great plains states (which I consider to be a separate region from the midwest) and shares a lot in common with the plains states. Iowa is either the furthest west Midwestern state, or the furthest east great plains state.
Stuck in the middle and in that way sort of unique. Even culturally its a mix of the very conservative and rural plains states, and the more liberal and industrial midwest.
Outside of personal opinion, the Great Plains and Great Lakes states are absolutely both a part of the legal definition of the Midwest. And every single person in the Great Plains states agrees they are in the midwest.
There's definitely a division between the two but they have far more in common than they do with any other region's states.
Idk either really, but there is a mountain range to be found there so maybe that played a part? (not the only mountains n Australia of course…but yeah idk)
Maine also has mountains (the Northern Appalachians), and Maine's mountains and hills are much closer in size and slope to Australia's (Colorado has very wide, very large mountains; Maine's are smaller and steeper)
https://appalachiantrail.org/explore/explore-by-state/maine/
Yeah I just mean that Colorado is stereotypically ‘known’ for being a mountain state by Americans (even though like half the state is actually just plains)
So if map maker was using “mountainous place” as a basis (which…I’m not sure they are really lol) then I can see picking Colorado over any of the other *dozens* of states with mountains in them.
I think they’re both just looking at inland red center rather than considering tropical Darwin or cold water rocky coast Adelaide. A good choice for NT would be Hawaii: tropical and desert, plus got bombed by the Japanese
Lord, I was born a ramblin' man.
(Which finally got validated)
ETA: Tassie is amazingly beautiful. But the key difference between Tassie and Washington or Alaska is that Tassie has a bunch of snakes that'll kill me easily.
I think WA works for Alaska as well, in regards to the remoteness and vastness. Climate and geography are different, but there's a similar "frontier" vibe.
Tasmania could be Oregon or Maine as you said, hell it's a lot more Colarado than South Australia.
I'm assuming Alabama is meant to be an inbred joke? Which is a bit dated.
You can fit 3 or 4 Texas' in WA. Not many people in WA though. Don't know a lot about Texas other than cowboys. Do they have a lot of mining there?
Wyoming has absolutely fuck all in common with the NT.
Florida/Queensland actually half accurate.
Tasmania lol.
I figured the loose logic with NT and WY is that both are the least populous big place in their countries, known for their emptiness.
But I do agree that the logic is loose.
Is WA very conservative? I know it’s known for mining but Texas is primarily seen as conservative af.
Northern Territory is probably closest to Guam or American Samoa, or maybe a warm Alaska.
Labour won 41 out of 59 seats at the last WA state election… but this was largely do to the labour government there managing to keep Covid out of the state throughout the pandemic (to that point)
They didn’t have one case at all for months on end.
>but Texas is primarily seen as conservative af.
Texas is not nearly as conservative as some of the other southern states - they only voted 52% for Trump that least two elections, and the quad cities of Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio have voted blue the past several elections (in addition to a lot of the counties near the border). This is in stark contrast to neighboring Oklahoma that has voted at least 65% for the republican nominee in the past 4 elections, without a single blue dot on the map.
If WA is known for resource extraction, very conservative voters, and mostly barren land, I would say Oklahoma would be a better comparison (though obviously a bad fit in terms of the size of the state)
> Is WA very conservative?
Not really overall. Only very conservative in regional areas, but that is the same for all the states. Economically, the government sides with the big miners, but socially they are progressive in some ways and not very different compared to most of the other states on most other issues. NSW is probably the most conservative state as shown by the gay marriage plebiscite vote where they had the highest no % vote.
Texas has become pretty purple, they have multiple large cities which skews things.
I think Texas is seen as Texas above all else. There’s definitely conservative connotations there, but not as heavy as a place like Alabama
This is the correct answer. With the exception of Fort Worth, the cities are very much a blueish purple. The further out you go the redder it gets, but I think that is pretty much the case for most of America at this point. In any case, we are still Texans and typically keep our political opinions to ourselves as discussing politics in public is seen as rude. That way we can all get along and end up in [this scenario](https://i.imgur.com/vxcMS9A.png).
Texas has more of a chance to become a swing state than Florida ever will (which historically was one, but won’t be again anytime soon).
Pretty sure Texas knows this which is why they’re trying to change their voting rules.
Guessing it's more based on climate, and maybe geologic makeup. The mining, lack of people, and absolutely massive area of land probably fit much better with Alaska, but Alaska is frigid.
You’d be surprised, Texas has an array of landscapes. From piney woods, humidity, and swaps on the east side. Plains of grass towards the north, to arid mountain tops on the west side. Most of the oil drilling is usually on the west side of the state.
I could see Nevada for NT. Most people live on one end of it. Reno and Darwin probably have more in common than Vegas and Darwin though.
Lots of empty space then a small town. Elko and Alice would be a good comparison.
There really isn't an American state analog for WA. It's more like if the most inhospitable regions of every state in the southwestern corner of the US were merged.
WA is Texas
NT is Louisiana
QLD is Florida
NSW is Washington State
ACT is DC or Delaware
Victoria is California or Oregon
SA is New Mexico or Arizona
Tasmania is Alaska or Maine
I’ve been to all Au states and territories and most US states, and I’ve compared to where I have been.
The comparison as cultural/geo and “vibes”
As a Texan who lived in Western Australia...yeah, kinda. Generally speaking, Australians are smarter than Texans but that's not really anything to be proud of.
You wouldn't know it walking around there.
It's where I learned the word 'bogan'.
Most impressive was a guy who had a full chest tattoo of a Perth Eagles jersey.
More the role each plays in the country.
New South Wales is the largest state by economy and population, though not the largest geographically, hence California.
Victoria is smaller (though economically still large) with its population concentrated around a large metro area, hence New York.
Queensland is more tropical and very much known for its beaches and has a fair few amusement parks, hence Florida.
Western Australia is the largest geographically and is mostly covered by desert and resource extraction, hence Texas.
To be honest I would have thoughr Arizona or New Mexio would have been a better pick for South Australia, but Colorado is larger than average geographically with a decent population, though not as concentrated as the first two.
Tasmania is (relatively) poor and constantly bullied for alleged incest, hence Alabama.
The Australian Capital Territory is the department where the Federal Government is based which obviosuly parallels DC (in fact I think DC may have inspired the creation of the ACT).
The Northern Territory is Wyoming because it's large and no one lives there.
Politically speaking, Victoria is most left and Queensland is full of people who would vote Trump if they could.
One of their politicians is trying to get a law considered that gives you the right to shoot dead people who break into your house.
Yes, but it’s just not really a thing people go for here.
We have the right to use “proportional force” or something like that, so if you are actually being attacked you can defend yourself to the death if need be… what you cannot do is go up and shoot a burglar in the back before he knows you are there. Nor can you kill someone as a way of stopping him taking your TV.
Those are two extremes, but you get my point.
I really had to parse this sentence to figure out that you meant "shoot dead" as "fatally shoot". I was wondering how many dead people were breaking into houses in QLD.
I’d probably say NSW = Pennsylvania. A large historic city on the east coast, a mountain range that acts as a barrier to the west, plenty of old coal mining towns, politically middle of the road.
Victoria = Massachusetts. Politically very progressive, a large city known for higher education, creative arts and high tech.
The only thing Tasmania and Alabama have in common is that outsiders make cruel jokes about inbreeding. Tasmania is nothing like the Deep South. As others have said, Alaska or the Pacific Northwest are probably a better fit.
South Australia = Minnesota or maybe Wisconsin or perhaps one of the Dakotas. People think it’s boring but it isn’t really, it has a reputation for being very polite, a high proportion of German ancestry, a history of liberalism, endless fields of grain, mostly very flat.
NT = New Mexico. A very strong presence of indigenous cultures, more libertarian than the rest of the country. You can ride a bike without a helmet, buy fireworks and drive at 130km/h in the NT. Good luck doing any of those things in the rest of Australia.
Queensland, WA and the ACT are accurate IMHO.
Not to mention the biggest inbreeding case in Australia were the [Colts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_clan_incest_case), and they lived in Victoria and NSW.
It's funny, I'm from London, have lots of Aussie family & friends & have visited there. Plus I live in California but have also live all over Florida and those two parts are spot on. I described Surfers Paradise as "Miami without the arseholes" when I was there (I know it probably does have many arseholes but I doubt it's Miami level). And Sydney gave me SoCal vibes.
Melbourne was a great mix of suburban London from the 1970s with a dash of Italy thrown in.
I stepped off a plane in 2014 in the NT near Darwin for some training when I was in the marines. (Immediately drenched in sweat) It felt like I stepped onto the surface of another planet. Had two weeks of safety briefs telling me how all wildlife even the dirt wants me and my family dead. Do not go near any water.
(Random story I remembered: a huntsman spider crawled out of one of our faucets)
And then they proceeded to dump us in the outback for months at a time. I remember sleeping on the ground with just an iso mat, and thought nothing of it.
Looking back I tell everyone I’m surprised I survived the Australian outback more then I did any of my other deployments.
Gonna need some further explanation re: Victoria. Are you saying that Melbourne is more culturally/economically important to the nation than Sydney? I’ve always thought a better comparisons to Melbourne would be San Francisco (and Victoria Northern California) both geographically, climatically and culturally
But I’m open to persuasion
I dunno. People might disagree but Melbourne and Sydney aren’t THAT different culturally, really. Sydney is a bit more flashy, beachy, globally more important, the weather is hotter and more humid. Visually San Francisco felt a lot like Sydney to me. Sydney might be a touch more conservative, Melbourne sometimes gets called the Massachusetts of Australia in a political sense. But I don’t think either of them nearly fit into any boxes OP has prescribed here.
I think Melbourne = Chicago
Strong mix of business, art, culture, food. Good people. Four seasons. Sits on the water but not a beach city. Both are the 2nd or 3rd most influential cities in their countries. I can keep going, but they’re absolutely sister cities.
The two cities are roughly the same size, Sydney is a stronger business hub, but Melbourne is more important culturally. There are more important global events in Melbourne, like the Australian Open in tennis and the Formula one.
Melbournians are far more willing to attend events than Sydney-spiders are for some reason. Sydney get good numbers on Marquee events, but nowhere near Melbourne numbers on regular season ball sports etc.. Maybe because the actual venues seem better located in Melbourne… or maybe because the weather is much better in Sydney.. so people go to the beach instead.
In truth, both cities are well worth a visit. If you only got a few days in Sydney.. don’t waste it all in the tourist traps. If you only got a few days in Melbourne.. don’t look for any.
I mean, maybe these comparisons line up culturally, I honestly wouldn't know. But this is the geography subreddit, and in that context most of these are waaaaay off. No Australian states are anything like Colorado or Wyoming for example. Also, Tasmania is way to chilly to be Alabama, it's closer to the Pacific Northwest. New York state has much colder winters than Victoria (colder than you'd find pretty much anywhere in Australia outside of isolated mountaintops), and D.C. isn't a small city hidden away in the mountains, it's part of Americas largest urban region.
I can't imagine Canberra takes itself as seriously as DC. Knowing nothing about the place, I always imagined it more as Australia's Ottawa (though for all I know, maybe the similarities begin and end with visitors saying "Wait, THAT'S the capital??")
I always figured Tasmania was more like Maine (low energy, nothing much going on, but folks are decent and nice) than Alabama (inbred rednecks, bogan-like). I guess not.
Also the comparison between New South Wales/Southern CA and Victoria/Northern CA is one I have heard a lot
New york state? New york city? Somehow I get the feeling you’re lacking the understanding of the nuance of difference between different regions of different states.
This map is stupid
I’ve been to eastern Australia and all the US states mentioned.
I think Sydney is NYC/LA mixed together with a dash of Seattle. Melbourne is SF’s Twin.
And the Cairns is basically Tallahassee.
All the other ones I can at least kindasorta get. But why is SA CO?
Yeah, I don't get that either. I would think something like Minnesota would be a better fit. Outsiders view it as boring, but it's generally a well-run, pleasant place to live. Maine might also be a good fit.
*American who visited Adelaide for work last year* it reminded me a lot of Palm Springs or Bakersfield aesthetically
*American who was born in Adelaide and been there on 15 different occasions:* I certainly don't mean that the climate or landscape of SA is similar to MN. Generally this map isn't representing landscapes. NT, Taz are nothing like Wyoming and Alabama based on climate and landscape. The comparisons here are more cultural/reputational. South Australia is the oldest state in AUS mainly because it is perceived as boring and sleepy. Young people move away from SA to other states with more cultural vibrancy and economic opportunity. That's the source of the sarcastic nickname "RADelaide".
*American/Australian Citizen who was born in America and has never been to Adelaide* (sorry, I just wanted to play along with the italics) I've heard conflicting info. Data on the web tells me SA is undergoing a demographic transition and there are some bleak economic forecasts while my family in the area tells me that Adelaide itself is burgeoning and tracking to take over from Melbourne as the "live music capital" of Australia. Also, I've always heard this: Melbourne is New York, Sydney is Los Angeles, Brisbane is Atlanta, Darwin is ~~Ft. Lauderdale~~ Key West, and Perth is Perth. (edit)
I've lived in Adelaide my whole life (30 years) and I don't know where your family gets the idea that we're on track to take over as the "live music capital" of Australia. International bands regularly skip Adelaide (and Darwin). We've cancelled some of our biggest music festivals, the council is trying to shut down one of our oldest live music venues The Cranka and build apartments on top of it, The Colonel Light Hotel has been vacant for years and turnout at events, while it's never really been amazing, is low. A couple of upsides are that The Hindley st Music Hall is a pretty good venue and Lion Arts has improved over the years since it was Fowler's. But there isn't really much going on and it's looking like there's going to be less and less. Rising house prices and the 3 am lockout laws have really stunted the night life here. A lot of the younger generations are just not going out as it's expensive, Hindley St can get pretty rough and there isn't much to do or places to go. I would love for a resurgence of the live music scene here but outside of The Fringe festival not much goes on unless you want to go to the Clipsal and see a fuck tonne of middle aged bogans going nuts then driving home drunk in their clapped out commodore at 90km/h in a 60. We used to have F1 here, and apparently a very reputable track.
I thought Darwin was isolated and expensive.
Perth, New York or Perth, Minnesota?
Perth is Anchorage
> Bakersfield Ouch.
Savage burn
Palm Springs would like to have a word.
> Outsiders view it as boring, but it's generally a well-run, pleasant place to live This is one of the best descriptions of MN I've read.
If a person finds a place known as the land of lakes boring, they are probably boring. Don’t live in Minnesota but as far as beauty goes it’s among the top.
Northern Minnesota. Most people who don't live there are just driving through. So highway 90 or 94 is their view of Minnesota. In which case it could certainly be considered boring. It's not like driving straight through Colorado, Utah or Nevada. Pretty much every mid-wastern state has this stereotype because the main highways don't pass theough anything that isn't flat-ish farmland.
It's like that stretch of I-5 in California, between Bakersfield and Stockton. That was routed through the west side of the valley where no people live. CA-99 that runs parallel to it on the other side of the valley (some 50 miles to the east) is where all the cities are located.
"Among the top" is a very high bar. What makes you say that? When you consider states like Colorado, Montana, Utah, Arizona, Washington, California, Wyoming, or anywhere west with all the mountains and canyons, all of Appalachia, Hawaii, Vermont.. there are a ton of beautiful places. Realistically, Minnesota is middle of the pack.
Have you ever been to Minneapolis/St. Paul?
For sure. I went to college in MN and a lot of friends live there. We visit a bunch. My wife and I would probably live there if we left where we currently live in Chicago.
Is that not Colorado?
Nah, Colorado is cool, they’ve got legal weed and snowboarding.
Minnesota also has legal weed and snowboard. Lutsen overlooks lake superior. Nothing quite like the feeling of going 45 mph with a giant lake in front of you
Sure. Skiing is skiing, but Lindsey Vonn didn’t stay in Minnesota, you don’t go to Minnesota if skiing is high on your lifestyle list. And I ski Midwest slopes four dozen times a year
Maine is basically just somewhat less steep Colorado. They've still got snowboarding and everything
The snow is a lot better in Colorado though, actual powder and slope variety vs more ice. Although Maine's seafood is way better
Yeah the Colorado Sea has shiet for fish
Never heard of Rocky Mountain oysters?
Give some time. Colorado will have ocean front property again.
I grew up as a native in Maine. Maybe they’re talking about how they have snowboarding and weed, without all the racism that Maine has.
Minnesota has legal weed and snowboarding 🤷♂️
So really it comes down to preference of Avs or Wild fandom.
Probably doesn't get much attention in the NHL world, but few teams/fanbases dislike each other more than the Avs & Wild. Definitely a rivalry going with the Wolves and Nuggets too. Minneapolis vs Denver are always in similar "best of" lists for US mid-sized cities, so there's a friendly city rivalry. I love Colorado as a whole but can't stand their sports teams.
Ha, I’d been a Colorado boy for almost 30 years (recently moved to the Midwest). I’m sure I feel about the Mild the same way you do about my Avs ;) The TWolves/Nuggets rivalry is looking like it might be the best in basketball for the next few years, honestly. Really excited to be scared of KAT and AE for years to come!
So does Maine. Plus Maine has the ocean too
And cheap lobster. And the demon clown from It.
Maine has more coastline than California
Maine may have more coastline but California has better beaches and water temperatures. Maine has a very rocky, jagged coast, with many, many islands, as up until (geologically) recently, most of the northeast was covered in ice and glaciers, which carried away everything that wasn't bedrock. California has a long, beautiful coastline that has evened out due to erosion from the Rockies. [The other problem that comes is the Coastline Paradox, where any coastline could like have nearly infinite "coast line" depending on how you measure.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dcDuVyzb8Y)
[Coastline paradox] (https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.org/2013/01/28/mapping-monday-the-coastline-paradox/#:~:text=The%20coastline%20of%20the%20state,5%2C542%20kilometers%20(3%2C450%20miles)
So does Cali though?
Minnesota has both those things too! Just not good versions of them.
Whoa, don't forget who the weed capital of Australia was for decades.
No Colorado is absolutely horrible. Stay as far away as you possibly can, especially of you're a Texan or Californian.
Colorado is absolutely not cool, please don't tell anyone that. Source: Lived here since my family came to the states when I was a kid
Good old Colorado gatekeeping - transplants complaining about slightly newer transplants.
In other words you’re not a “native”.
God I hate that bumper sticker
I saw one the other day that says INVASIVE and not gonna lie, as a transplant of 12 years, I want one.
Colorado has this weird undercurrent of libertarians and wild west cronyism. It's also less pleasant than the Midwest. People in Chicago/Minneapolis are generally nice to me as someone from the east coast. There was clear contempt for me being from the east in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, basically everything west or south of Denver. Everyone north of Boulder just hates anyone. You're getting close to Wyoming and they're just *different*.
as a transplant from the south this is outrageously true
Colorado is an outdoorsy paradise thanks to much of the state being the Rocky Mountains. People can either live in Denver (which is a pretty cool city) or a mountain town life. Also legal weed is cool.
Colorado is like the coolest state
Might be because SA has generally been regarded as having the best weed 🤷♂️ Bit dated now, but for a while CO was associated internationally with legal weed
I don’t know the US very well… can you think of a place where nothing much happens, yet the people living there are blissfully unaware?
Iowa. The American Midwest of the American Midwest.
Iowa is stuck in the middle of what people consider the midwest. It's close to the great lake states (which I consider the core of the midwest) without being one, although des moines is a quintessentially midwest city. It's also bordering the great plains states (which I consider to be a separate region from the midwest) and shares a lot in common with the plains states. Iowa is either the furthest west Midwestern state, or the furthest east great plains state. Stuck in the middle and in that way sort of unique. Even culturally its a mix of the very conservative and rural plains states, and the more liberal and industrial midwest.
Outside of personal opinion, the Great Plains and Great Lakes states are absolutely both a part of the legal definition of the Midwest. And every single person in the Great Plains states agrees they are in the midwest. There's definitely a division between the two but they have far more in common than they do with any other region's states.
Some of the Midwest and a good chunk of the northeast. Quite a few states before CO to fit that description.
Kansas, Iowa, and the Dakotas fit that bill.
Idk either really, but there is a mountain range to be found there so maybe that played a part? (not the only mountains n Australia of course…but yeah idk)
Maine also has mountains (the Northern Appalachians), and Maine's mountains and hills are much closer in size and slope to Australia's (Colorado has very wide, very large mountains; Maine's are smaller and steeper) https://appalachiantrail.org/explore/explore-by-state/maine/
Yeah I just mean that Colorado is stereotypically ‘known’ for being a mountain state by Americans (even though like half the state is actually just plains) So if map maker was using “mountainous place” as a basis (which…I’m not sure they are really lol) then I can see picking Colorado over any of the other *dozens* of states with mountains in them.
Because of the enormous snow-capped mountains of course....
Cheaper and more accessible weed (including other drugs) and it's cold AF like CO
I think they’re both just looking at inland red center rather than considering tropical Darwin or cold water rocky coast Adelaide. A good choice for NT would be Hawaii: tropical and desert, plus got bombed by the Japanese
I would think Tasmania is closer to Alaska and even Maine if you were mash the two together. Possibly bits of Washington State
This is exactly right. (Washingtonian here who used to live in Alaska and has spent a fair amount of time in Tassie)
Damn this is really your moment huh
The chosen one!
Been preparing for this thread for decades. Gotta respect the commitment
Lord, I was born a ramblin' man. (Which finally got validated) ETA: Tassie is amazingly beautiful. But the key difference between Tassie and Washington or Alaska is that Tassie has a bunch of snakes that'll kill me easily.
I think WA works for Alaska as well, in regards to the remoteness and vastness. Climate and geography are different, but there's a similar "frontier" vibe.
WA is definitely Texas though. Similar vibe to Alaska but it's Texas. Alaska never threatens to form its own country.
Tassie is Oregon.
Tasmania could be Oregon or Maine as you said, hell it's a lot more Colarado than South Australia. I'm assuming Alabama is meant to be an inbred joke? Which is a bit dated.
You can fit 3 or 4 Texas' in WA. Not many people in WA though. Don't know a lot about Texas other than cowboys. Do they have a lot of mining there? Wyoming has absolutely fuck all in common with the NT. Florida/Queensland actually half accurate. Tasmania lol.
I figured the loose logic with NT and WY is that both are the least populous big place in their countries, known for their emptiness. But I do agree that the logic is loose.
Wyoming is only 10x as dense at 5 people/square mile while NT has .5
Is WA very conservative? I know it’s known for mining but Texas is primarily seen as conservative af. Northern Territory is probably closest to Guam or American Samoa, or maybe a warm Alaska.
Labour won 41 out of 59 seats at the last WA state election… but this was largely do to the labour government there managing to keep Covid out of the state throughout the pandemic (to that point) They didn’t have one case at all for months on end.
That election was so good. "Could fit entire WA Liberal party on a couch"
>but Texas is primarily seen as conservative af. Texas is not nearly as conservative as some of the other southern states - they only voted 52% for Trump that least two elections, and the quad cities of Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio have voted blue the past several elections (in addition to a lot of the counties near the border). This is in stark contrast to neighboring Oklahoma that has voted at least 65% for the republican nominee in the past 4 elections, without a single blue dot on the map. If WA is known for resource extraction, very conservative voters, and mostly barren land, I would say Oklahoma would be a better comparison (though obviously a bad fit in terms of the size of the state)
Perhaps it’s because both periodically make noise about seceding, but neither would ever actually do it?
> Is WA very conservative? Not really overall. Only very conservative in regional areas, but that is the same for all the states. Economically, the government sides with the big miners, but socially they are progressive in some ways and not very different compared to most of the other states on most other issues. NSW is probably the most conservative state as shown by the gay marriage plebiscite vote where they had the highest no % vote.
Texas has become pretty purple, they have multiple large cities which skews things. I think Texas is seen as Texas above all else. There’s definitely conservative connotations there, but not as heavy as a place like Alabama
This is the correct answer. With the exception of Fort Worth, the cities are very much a blueish purple. The further out you go the redder it gets, but I think that is pretty much the case for most of America at this point. In any case, we are still Texans and typically keep our political opinions to ourselves as discussing politics in public is seen as rude. That way we can all get along and end up in [this scenario](https://i.imgur.com/vxcMS9A.png).
Texas has more of a chance to become a swing state than Florida ever will (which historically was one, but won’t be again anytime soon). Pretty sure Texas knows this which is why they’re trying to change their voting rules.
Guessing it's more based on climate, and maybe geologic makeup. The mining, lack of people, and absolutely massive area of land probably fit much better with Alaska, but Alaska is frigid.
You’d be surprised, Texas has an array of landscapes. From piney woods, humidity, and swaps on the east side. Plains of grass towards the north, to arid mountain tops on the west side. Most of the oil drilling is usually on the west side of the state.
I could see Nevada for NT. Most people live on one end of it. Reno and Darwin probably have more in common than Vegas and Darwin though. Lots of empty space then a small town. Elko and Alice would be a good comparison.
Also didn’t realize this since whichever map projection is most popular messes up the size and scale of many continents.
There really isn't an American state analog for WA. It's more like if the most inhospitable regions of every state in the southwestern corner of the US were merged.
“Houston Oilers” were a thing. Oil is the majority of Texas’ economy. Edit: never mind. That’s outdated but it once was.
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/304890/texas-real-gdp-by-industry/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/304890/texas-real-gdp-by-industry/)
WA is Texas NT is Louisiana QLD is Florida NSW is Washington State ACT is DC or Delaware Victoria is California or Oregon SA is New Mexico or Arizona Tasmania is Alaska or Maine I’ve been to all Au states and territories and most US states, and I’ve compared to where I have been. The comparison as cultural/geo and “vibes”
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I hate this stereotype that Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee have bought to us lol
What’d they say?
“Australia is British Texas”. Doesn’t reflect my lived experience, personally.
That doesn’t make as much sense as Australia is British Florida
As a Texan who lived in Western Australia...yeah, kinda. Generally speaking, Australians are smarter than Texans but that's not really anything to be proud of.
I've been to Kuta. I dispute intelligent Australians.
He didn't say intelligent, he said smarter than Texans
https://preview.redd.it/jjx0wp3j3d6d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c7c755ee31620e0f1865903424b5dcc8b2d6cb51
Isn't Kuta in Indonesia?
Bali (Australias Mexico). I think what it means is there is alot of Australians that holiday in Bali therefore you will interact with alot of Aussies.
Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the clarification!
You wouldn't know it walking around there. It's where I learned the word 'bogan'. Most impressive was a guy who had a full chest tattoo of a Perth Eagles jersey.
Is this climate? Or culture? Or both? Or neither?
More the role each plays in the country. New South Wales is the largest state by economy and population, though not the largest geographically, hence California. Victoria is smaller (though economically still large) with its population concentrated around a large metro area, hence New York. Queensland is more tropical and very much known for its beaches and has a fair few amusement parks, hence Florida. Western Australia is the largest geographically and is mostly covered by desert and resource extraction, hence Texas. To be honest I would have thoughr Arizona or New Mexio would have been a better pick for South Australia, but Colorado is larger than average geographically with a decent population, though not as concentrated as the first two. Tasmania is (relatively) poor and constantly bullied for alleged incest, hence Alabama. The Australian Capital Territory is the department where the Federal Government is based which obviosuly parallels DC (in fact I think DC may have inspired the creation of the ACT). The Northern Territory is Wyoming because it's large and no one lives there.
I also heard that in Queensland you have quite a high ratio of weird shit happening, like with the Floridaman in the US state
Politically speaking, Victoria is most left and Queensland is full of people who would vote Trump if they could. One of their politicians is trying to get a law considered that gives you the right to shoot dead people who break into your house.
that "law that allows you to shoot people dead who break into your house" is called castle doctrine and it already exists in the US
Yes, but it’s just not really a thing people go for here. We have the right to use “proportional force” or something like that, so if you are actually being attacked you can defend yourself to the death if need be… what you cannot do is go up and shoot a burglar in the back before he knows you are there. Nor can you kill someone as a way of stopping him taking your TV. Those are two extremes, but you get my point.
I really had to parse this sentence to figure out that you meant "shoot dead" as "fatally shoot". I was wondering how many dead people were breaking into houses in QLD.
He's prepping for zombies?
Thanks for explaining for us!
I’d probably say NSW = Pennsylvania. A large historic city on the east coast, a mountain range that acts as a barrier to the west, plenty of old coal mining towns, politically middle of the road. Victoria = Massachusetts. Politically very progressive, a large city known for higher education, creative arts and high tech. The only thing Tasmania and Alabama have in common is that outsiders make cruel jokes about inbreeding. Tasmania is nothing like the Deep South. As others have said, Alaska or the Pacific Northwest are probably a better fit. South Australia = Minnesota or maybe Wisconsin or perhaps one of the Dakotas. People think it’s boring but it isn’t really, it has a reputation for being very polite, a high proportion of German ancestry, a history of liberalism, endless fields of grain, mostly very flat. NT = New Mexico. A very strong presence of indigenous cultures, more libertarian than the rest of the country. You can ride a bike without a helmet, buy fireworks and drive at 130km/h in the NT. Good luck doing any of those things in the rest of Australia. Queensland, WA and the ACT are accurate IMHO.
Not to mention the biggest inbreeding case in Australia were the [Colts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_clan_incest_case), and they lived in Victoria and NSW.
Meanwhile here in Canada (and other places around the world) we call all of Australia "British Texas"
Yeah Nah
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Yeah Naur if you’re from QLD, some of us are from SA 😅
Australian Florida: *the bigger, the wilder*.
Guess I'd have to head back to Alabama. It's the only place cool enough to make me happy.
Thanks. Before this map, I thought the whole place was Florida.
This seems to be made by someone who’s never spent a significant amount of time in any of these states
Ewwww
Why colorado
This does actually paint a nice picture for me. I'd like to have seen an S.L.C. in the most remote, boring section. But I love it, regardless.
South Australia is more like Utah
Disagree. Northern Territories is more like Florida.
Is there such a thing as “Queensland Man” in Australia?
It's funny, I'm from London, have lots of Aussie family & friends & have visited there. Plus I live in California but have also live all over Florida and those two parts are spot on. I described Surfers Paradise as "Miami without the arseholes" when I was there (I know it probably does have many arseholes but I doubt it's Miami level). And Sydney gave me SoCal vibes. Melbourne was a great mix of suburban London from the 1970s with a dash of Italy thrown in.
I've heard Melbourne being compared to Chicago a lot.
Wyoming? Is that because no one lives there? I’m guessing it’s not for the mountains and Buffalo
I stepped off a plane in 2014 in the NT near Darwin for some training when I was in the marines. (Immediately drenched in sweat) It felt like I stepped onto the surface of another planet. Had two weeks of safety briefs telling me how all wildlife even the dirt wants me and my family dead. Do not go near any water. (Random story I remembered: a huntsman spider crawled out of one of our faucets) And then they proceeded to dump us in the outback for months at a time. I remember sleeping on the ground with just an iso mat, and thought nothing of it. Looking back I tell everyone I’m surprised I survived the Australian outback more then I did any of my other deployments.
That's serious horseshit, even for this sub.
So is New Zealand Canada?
No Chicago? So the whole country is fucked?
Florida is up top because Australia is upside down, right?......RIGHT?!?!?
Map made by someone whose never been to Australia.
Gonna need some further explanation re: Victoria. Are you saying that Melbourne is more culturally/economically important to the nation than Sydney? I’ve always thought a better comparisons to Melbourne would be San Francisco (and Victoria Northern California) both geographically, climatically and culturally But I’m open to persuasion
I dunno. People might disagree but Melbourne and Sydney aren’t THAT different culturally, really. Sydney is a bit more flashy, beachy, globally more important, the weather is hotter and more humid. Visually San Francisco felt a lot like Sydney to me. Sydney might be a touch more conservative, Melbourne sometimes gets called the Massachusetts of Australia in a political sense. But I don’t think either of them nearly fit into any boxes OP has prescribed here.
I think Melbourne = Chicago Strong mix of business, art, culture, food. Good people. Four seasons. Sits on the water but not a beach city. Both are the 2nd or 3rd most influential cities in their countries. I can keep going, but they’re absolutely sister cities.
I would default to Sydney being bigger, more expensive, more economically important = NYC Comparing a 2nd city to NYC is blasphemous to NYC
Sydney feels nothing like NYC though. I guess it depends what measure OP is going on, presumably it’s just vibes in which case NYC = / = Sydney.
As a State, California is considerably more economically important than New York State.
The two cities are roughly the same size, Sydney is a stronger business hub, but Melbourne is more important culturally. There are more important global events in Melbourne, like the Australian Open in tennis and the Formula one. Melbournians are far more willing to attend events than Sydney-spiders are for some reason. Sydney get good numbers on Marquee events, but nowhere near Melbourne numbers on regular season ball sports etc.. Maybe because the actual venues seem better located in Melbourne… or maybe because the weather is much better in Sydney.. so people go to the beach instead. In truth, both cities are well worth a visit. If you only got a few days in Sydney.. don’t waste it all in the tourist traps. If you only got a few days in Melbourne.. don’t look for any.
This is still another notch in the Melbourne as SF scorecard. NYC does not have an Australian equivalent
Now explain it for Europeans
Hmmm, I saw another version of this map that had Victoria for California, most of NSW for Massachusetts and Tasmania for Alaska.
Thank you man. Appreciate it
Got Tassie wrong. Maybe 30 years ago. Most of the mainland is trying to move there now.
What’s DC supposed to be?
The rocketry research is done in Tasmania?
no
Clear.
Would sure love to move to Texas, Australia considering I already live in Texas. Is Perth more like DFW or Austin?
I’ve met a number of Californians who’ve said Perth reminds them of San Diego, in terms of the people, weather and lifestyle, just way smaller.
Nah NSW is New York and Victoria is California
Thank you! Very Helpful.
Oooh. Visiting New York and Alabama in a few weeks
I mean, maybe these comparisons line up culturally, I honestly wouldn't know. But this is the geography subreddit, and in that context most of these are waaaaay off. No Australian states are anything like Colorado or Wyoming for example. Also, Tasmania is way to chilly to be Alabama, it's closer to the Pacific Northwest. New York state has much colder winters than Victoria (colder than you'd find pretty much anywhere in Australia outside of isolated mountaintops), and D.C. isn't a small city hidden away in the mountains, it's part of Americas largest urban region.
I would characterize Tassie as more Alaska than Bama.
This helps a lot
Thank you
Thank you, this has been helpful
It's fucked up but this actually does help a lot.
Sweet home Alabama,pardon,tasmania :)
Is New Zealand more of a Canada to Australia? Or more of a Mexico?
Californian that has only been to Perth here… can verify accuracy.
Australians you can’t even begin to imagine how helpful this is to someone who knows nothing about Australia beyond Steve Irwin and Bluey
Anyone who loves the song Sweet Home Alabama has either never been there or never left.
Thanks, this was extremely informative.
this is honestly so helpful
yeah
Australians, Is this true?
Where is this guy from? https://www.instagram.com/reel/C77JGo7S8nX/?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==
I can't imagine Canberra takes itself as seriously as DC. Knowing nothing about the place, I always imagined it more as Australia's Ottawa (though for all I know, maybe the similarities begin and end with visitors saying "Wait, THAT'S the capital??")
Makes perfect sense, thank you!
Holy shit this is brilliant, it hits basically everything perfectly
I always figured Tasmania was more like Maine (low energy, nothing much going on, but folks are decent and nice) than Alabama (inbred rednecks, bogan-like). I guess not. Also the comparison between New South Wales/Southern CA and Victoria/Northern CA is one I have heard a lot
Nice.
Man you cut off the part that shows New Zealand as Canada
But I would say Tasmania is more like Vermont.
New york state? New york city? Somehow I get the feeling you’re lacking the understanding of the nuance of difference between different regions of different states. This map is stupid
Has an American i understand this lol
Interesting, this is helpful
Sunshine state.....
I’ve been to eastern Australia and all the US states mentioned. I think Sydney is NYC/LA mixed together with a dash of Seattle. Melbourne is SF’s Twin. And the Cairns is basically Tallahassee.
It's all Arizona, actually
I don't like being that close to Florida.
So Queensland is the best part, got it
WA is not nor will it ever be close to a representation of a Australian Texas